Archive for: World Surf Tour

Today was a tripple whammy!

I started off by packing up the car to head off up north to go camping and in search of surf up at 90 Mile Beach. So off I set, iPod charged up, a full car of food and supplies and full of good vibes. I made it up to the beach where the waves were shitty onshore and classic chop! So I decided to head over to the east side of the peninsular to see if it would be offshore and clean. As I did this it started to piss down, nice!

30 minutes later after driving down a gravel dirt track I got to Henderson Bay. On arrival at the beach the water was completely flat, not a sausage, crappolla! I then headed back down the track from which I had driven up previously. On the way back I managed to loose control of the car, swerving it across the road and ending up in a ditch! Nicely done I thought. So now I am in the middle of frigging nowhere, shitty waves, pissing down with rain and the car is stuck in a ditch.

After a few minutes of wheel-spinning and me trying to single-handedly push a saloon car out of a soft verge, I thought, god I am truly fooked! No reception on my phone, and feeling pretty bummed out! I started to dig the crap out of the front wheel arch, finding that I had nicely dented the front wing, also discovering that I had landed on a hornet’s nest, resulting in me getting stung!

5 mintues later, I managed to get the car out of the ditch and decided to call it a day and drive 150km back to the ranch! I stopped in at Taupo bay to see if there were any waves, but no of course not, flat flat flat!

So today has been dry dry dry, a truly arid few days of surf. I guess I should consider myself lucky that I didn’t roll the car and that I didn’t get hurt!

Anyway Fiji in 4 days, surf looking amazing, temperature around 31, can’t complain!

Today the search has taken me along the east coast of Northland. I set off this morning and took the car ferry over to Russel and then scooted down the coast passing numerous bays and towns: Oakura, Helena Bay, Matapouri and Tutukaka. Unfortunately there wasn’t even a hint of surf, flat flat flat!

After driving about 200km I eventually came back to Whangarei, so I decided to pop in and visit the waterfalls there, all good, an amazing view and nice little walk! I took the freeway back to Keri Keri and have ust been to the pub for a few beers and a feed.

Tomorrow I am going to drive up to the tip of the North Island in search of surf, there is a fresh 9ft swell coming in to 90 Mile beach and I have also packed the tent and camping gear and plan to stay up there overnight.

Hopefully tomorrow will prove to me a little more rewarding on the surf!

Today the search has taken The General, The Duke and myself north up the coast to Taupo Bay. We set off about 9.30 this morning and drove up the coast, checking out the amazing scenery on the way! On arrival at Taupo the waves were pretty small, but some peaks were creeping up to the 3ft mark.

I took out the Duke for about 3 hours and got about 25 waves (in the super low-rider stance), nothing particularly to write home about, but it’s all about having fun and getting out there!

Taupo Bay is beautiful, there isn’t that much there, a few houses, a beautiful sandy bay surrounded on both sides by high cliffs. The water was quite warm, I went in with my new shortie wettie on for about an hour, but then got a bit hot, so decided to take it down a level a just surf in board shorts!

In the arvo I headed up to Mangonui for fresh fish and chips overlooking the bay, a nice way to spend an hour or so after a surf. I then drove up a little further to Cooper beach, Cable Bay and finally ending up in Taipo.

Now I am back at the ranch, just polished off a steak sarnie and ready to chill for the night and start a new adventure tomorrow!

New photos are uploaded and ready to check out here!

The past 3 days have been a bit of a whirlwind.

I left Melbourne on the 31st March, after spending an amazing week with my top Aussie girl Cathy. We headed off to the south coast to surf (some albeit small waves) down at Bells beach, Apollo Bay and Torquay, travelling along the Great Ocean Road through South Victoria. We swam in secret waterfalls, visited her dad’s beautiful farm in the outback near Chepstowe and saw some of small-town Oz. Although the waves were lame, the views, experiences and places were so beautiful, and a real treat to have my own personal guide to show me around!

A big thank you to Cathy for putting up with my grumpy moods when the waves were shitty, I’m no sure my patience would have been so good if the shoe had been on the other foot! Anyway, it was crappy having to say good bye at the airport the other day, after having such a nice time together, but I am sure that we will meet up again in the future! So thanks again for being so kind and showing me the best bits of Victoria, gonna miss ya loads!

So on to NZ!

To sum up my first night in New Zealand, all I can say is pile of shit! Not beacause NZ is shite, but because I managed to leave one of my bags on the airbus on the way to the hostel. Might have been something to do with me being forgetful, but also maybe the 3 bottles of red I had on the plane. I arrived to my room to find myself one bag short! What made it worse was my bag had all the video footage of all the places I have been to so far, all my electronic cables for cameras, laptop etc, cd’s and some nice sarongs from Bali.

I had a really shitty night’s sleep and kept myself up all night worrying about whether someone would be honest enough to hand it in to the police. I had probably my first “oh fuck this I want to be home, or at least have someone to comfort me”, rather than alone in my hostel room feeling down and out! But I guess that was one of those testing moments that life throws at you, or something!

As it turned out I awoke the next day to a sunny Auckland cityscape and to the fact that my bag had been handed in! Feeling refeshed and relieved, I headed back to the airport to pick it up as well as my hire car! I then made the 250+ km journey up to the Northland to Keri Keri, in the Bay of Islands. The landscape is so diverse here, one minute you are driving through farmland, the next pine forest, the next it is all sub-tropical and funky shit! What a cool drive in my Daewoo 1.6L surf mobile, tunes pumping, chocolate milked to the eyeballs, all good!

Today I headed out with Nigel for a mini tour of the local area, stopping back off home for some lunch! This arvo I headed back to Matauri Bay for a late arvo surf! The conditions had the potential to be great, a strong offshore wind, clean waves, although the swell just wasn’t there, maybe 2 ft at the most!

So in the morning I am heading a little further up north to Taupo Bay, where the increased exposure should hopefully kick up some bigger waves!

Now that I am back to spending most days on my own, surfing and passing through new landscape, it gives you time to reflect on the people you have met, the things you have seen, what you are doing now, what comes next etc. I am thinking about maybe doing a working visa next year, maybe OZ or NZ, anything to escape the monotony of London life!

Anyway time to hit the hay, early start tomorrow, more pictures to be taken, more video to shoot, and more waves to search for and ride!

To all the special people in my life, I love you all!

I left the warmth of the Sunshine Coast last Friday in Exchange for a bit of Melbourne action.

It was great to catch up with the Sunny crew, had search a blast and managed to get some nice waves over at Noosa, 11ft swell last week, offshore, and all good!

I had to exchnage “The Duke” for a new board, as the glass on the rails started to crumble away. So good old Peter Cochran let me choose a board of my choice (a 6’4″ swallow-tail short board) from the shop and did me a great deal on a new leg rope, deck grip and board sock! All good!

The past few days I have been crusing along the Great Ocean Road in search of some quality surf and a little sun. It is a little cooler in the water down here, about 19 degrees, and I managed to leave my wet suit back in Melbourne. All good though, as I managed to pick up a nice Ri[p Curl Classic shortie.

The waves have been pretty crappy over the past fwe days, all onshore and classic chop, couple with rain showers and high winds, it has been a bit of a downer. Today I surfed at the legendary Bells Beach, and also Torquay (just up the coast).

So I think we might stay around for an extra day, as it looks like tomorrow might be the go down at Torquay, if the wind turns around and the weather gets a bit better.

Have reached the halfway point of my trip so far, and like every one said, I didn’t come away for long enough. So I guess all I need to do now, is plan the World Surf Tour MK II.

Anyway chow’s up so gotta shoot!

Been a bit slack on the old weblog update for the past week, the reason: too much surfing and having too much fun!

Am now hanging out with my good mate from Bali, Mikey. We have travelled down the Sunshine Coast from Buderim to the Gold Coast, and have checked out some of the surf spots down here: Burleigh Heads, Kirra, Rainbow Bay, Snapper etc. Will probably head back up to the Sunny tomorrow arvo and hook up with the Wayno for some more party antics!

Been for a quality bush walk this morning and maybe gonna head down to Byron Bay this arvo to check it out down there.

Weather has been pretty great for the past week, but I think cyclone Larry has been pushing down a little more in the way of cloud and wind the past few days!

I managed to get another board from Peter Cochran (of Coololah Surfboards). It is a 6’2″, swallow tail, short board, and yes it goes like shit off a shovel! Turns super sharp, and I am weaving the little devil along the wave like no one’s business! So that makes the family now 3: The Mitch, The General and now The Duke!

So anyway time to head off on another adventure, lets hope the swell picks up a little from the help of those cyclones up north!

Well the past 3 or 4 days have been packed with all sorts of fun and games. I am now in Noosa Heads, up on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. The weather is fantastic up here, the surf, small but clean, and the people nice and laid back!

I have been surfing every day, and have picked up a few scrapes along the way, f*cked my back up, got smashed across the nose with a longboard, cut my foot open, bust my left hand up. Oh well it is all part of the experience I guess.

I will be hanging out wth the Coolum guys in a few days for a week, getting some more surfing in etc.

So for now, I am just sitting with the PB updating this blog and and getting ready to hit the beach and then test out the new fish board that Peter Cochran is letting me demo!

Another day in paradise!

Today I trade in Hong Kong for Brisbane, Australia. I have had a lovely time here again and met some really nice people along the way and will leave with many fond memories of the experiences I have had along the way.

So tonight it is a new flight, new continent and new adventure. Looking back a few years I would have never have thought I would be living the dream and travelling around the world surfing, hell, two years ago I didn’t even surf! Just goes to show how times change and as John Lennon said on Revolver, “Tomorrow never knows”.

Bali photos have been uploaded here.

Well what a 12 days that was. The Bali experience was one that I will definetly remember for a while. From haning out with the Sunny Coast surf boys, to eating at the Indonational to getting on the drinks with crazy “Murdoch” from the Losari hotel, it was all good!

I spent my birthday surfing over at Mushroom rights. What a day that was, our first day of proper sunshine, crystal clear blue water and glassy waves, it was a scene out of a brochure. Got some nice rides and just traded the stoke with the Sunny crew boys! The evening was spent with the Sunny crew, Murdoch the madman, and the Austrian crew, all funny and am sure all the locals think we have lost the plot completely.

Am now back in Hong Kong until tomorrow and just chilling and trying to absorb all the things that I have done over the past few weeks. For the first time in ages I am loving every second of every day, maybe it is the lack of sleep, maybe it is the remainder of the birthday Bingtang (Indo beer), but for sure it is definitely the time of my life.

It is great meeting new people and getting yourself out of the comfort zone of the routine of normal every day life. Today I think I will maybe head up to The Peak here in HK, and maybe do a little more looking around.

To all the people so far who have made my trip what is it, a massive massive thank you!!!

Watch this space, as there is more to come!!!

Yesterday Wanyo, Mikey and I went over to the East coast again and surfed the othe side of Musroom rock, this time on the right hander. The waves were peeling in quite nicely and the sets were about head height.

I got one of my best rides yesterday which ended up being about 100 metres along the wave, really tasty.

Today it is pissing down with rain, really heavily, so Mikey and I are going to head up to Ubud and are going to try out some white water rafting, it should be pretty extreme on the basis that there will be so much water in the river.

Tomorrow is my last day surfing, before I head on over to Hong Kong and then on to Oz. Hopefully I’ll get more sun over that side as the weather has been pretty damn shit here in Bali, but I guess that is why they call it the wet season!